Commodore.news

Rohde & Schwarz PUC | NatureAndTech made a video about the Rohde & Schwarz PUC Process Controller. This piece of retro computing is based on the Commodore PET, and is used for control of test equipment using a built-in GPIB controller.

Bart Venneker - C64, Out Of Memory Error (Dutch) | Bart Venneker made a video about a defective Commodore C64. He bought a Commodore 64 on Marktplaats, but after switching it on there was a memory error. The solution was to replace the memory chips.

Colour RAM repair - C64 | On the Youtube channel Cainers Commodore Capers! you can see the repair of a Commodore C64. This Commodore C64 had a bad colour RAM. In the video you can follow all the steps from diagnostics, schematics, (de)soldering and testing the system.

A520HD | GGLABS has developed the A520HD. The GGLABS A520HD is the HDTV equivalent of the classic Commodore A520 TV modulator. Instead of encoding the Amiga video signal to a low quality composite output it converts the RGB output to a high quality YPbPr signal compatible with HDTVs with a component input.

VIC20 - The Penultimate Cartridge | Tynemouth Software LLP is working on a new cartridge for the Commodore VIC20. The features are: RAM expansion 3 kByte - 32 kByte. Read only option for RAM blocks 3 and 5. Configuration and reset switches and game cartridge emulation.

FPGA Arcade Replay | A new version of the Amiga core for the FPGA Arcade is now available. Changes in this version: 2 kByte instruction and 2 kByte data cache. The performance is around 11.3 mips / 10800 dhrystones with sysinfo 4.0. The RTG dedicated blitter is now working and the scan doubler has been improved for better results on DVI monitors.

Commodore 64: a visual Commpendium, part 2 | A new Kickstarter project is started for part two of the book Commodore 64: a visual Commpendium. The book celebrates the beauty of the greatest home computer ever made; the C64. The focus of the book is on the beautiful loading screens and game images.

HC508 Amiga 500 accelerator card | Mc68k is working on an accelerator card for the Amiga 500. The specifications are: 68HC000 CPU (50 MHz), 40 pin IDE connector (5 MB/s) for HDD, CD ROM etc., integrated CF card connector (3.2 MB/s), 8 MB Fast RAM and 512k FlashROM for Kickstart.

GCart Jr. v2.1 | Thomas Lövskog is developing cartridges for the Commodore VIC-20. The GCart Junior is a RAM expansion for the VIC-20. The recent changes are: PCB v2.1. 16 Mbyte internal flash. LED for SD card and USB activity. 512k SRAM for BLK5. The EEPROM is removed and single colour LEDs, instead of bi-colour LED's.

Desoldering of chips | Clay Cowgill made and demonstration video on how to remove chips from a circuit board. He uses an Hakko 850 hot air system to remove DIP chips from a 1987 era two-layer computer printed circuit board (Atari 130XE).

GadgetUK164 - Amiga 500 Plus | GadgetUK164 made a video about the repair of a Amiga 500 Plus. The repair is about the reconstruction of the printed circuit board after a leakage of the internal battery. (part 1). In part two he also cleans the internal disk drive.

GadgetUK164 - 1531 | GadgetUK164 made a video about the repair of an Commodore 1531 mouse. It is only a small device, but it took a while to make the mouse work correctly.

Mediator PCI 1200 TXblack / PCI 4000 Di | Elbox has introduced two new Mediators for the Amiga. The Mediator 1200 TX now has a extra status LED. The Mediator PCI 4000 Di is a bus board with four PCI 2.2 slots, with supports for 3.3 Volt PCI cards, and four Zorro III/II slots.

Sum A234 / CD32 | The Sum adapter makes it possible to connect USB HID keyboards to your Amiga 2000, 3000, 4000 or CD32. The Sum is based upon a 16-bit Microchip micro-controller. Features: PS2-DIN adapter, built-in USB stack, configuration mode, built-in EEPROM memory for preferences storage, boot-loader for firmware upgrades and a status LED.

SX-64 - DX-64 | Biosrhythm has converted an Commodore SX-64 to a DX-64. In his blog you can read how this conversion is possible. He had to deal with problems such as the cartridge connector, IEC connectors and that the original SX-64 has very little space inside for this conversion.

ACA1232/3 Turbo card | Individual Computers has released a new turbo card for the Amiga 1200. The turbo card has an 40, 50 or 55.5 MHz 68030 processor with an MMU and 128 MB memory. It is possible to reserve 1 MB of the RAM memory for a copy of the Kickstart ROM.

GadgetUK164 - VIC20 repair video | GadgetUK164 made a video about the repair of a Commodore VIC20. During this repair the 6522 was replaced with a new 6522. But if you want to use an 6522 from the company Rockwell a small modification needs to be to the 6522.

DC2N v4 Low cost | Luigi Di Fraia has developed a new version of the DC2N. This version is especially made for preservation of cassette software. (It does not offer playback.) You can attach this device to a Commodore Datassette and the USB port on your PC and make back-ups of your cassette software.

The FPGASID Project | Andi 6510 is working on the his FPGASID Project. This project will produce an drop-in replacement for the SID chip. The features are: Cycle exact reproduction of all digital parts including sound and envelope generation and paddle readouts. Exact modelling of the analogue parts and extras like wavetables, stereo sound, more voices etc.

GadgetUK164 - VIC20 repair video | GadgetUK164 made a video about the repair of a Commodore VIC20. The VIC chip was replaced and the new chip has now extra cooling. And a small modification was implemented to improve the composite video.

Commodore PET 2001-8 Mainboard repair | Tynemouth Software is repairing an Commodore PET 2001-8. After testing the 6550 RAM chips it was discovered that 14 of the 18 chips were defective. Other defective components: ROM, CPU, a transistor for the Datassette, capacitors for the rectifier diodes and a power connector.

VIC20 +123K REU | MCes has developed an adaptive RAM expansion for the Commodore VIC20. The features are: +3K, +16K, +24k, 12 x 8K = 96K, write protect and you can configure or disable the cartridge with pokes. The price is 44 Euros.

Keyman64 | Keyman64 is an hardware expansion for the keyboard on your Commodore C64. With Keyman64 you can assign actions to key combinations. These action could be a series of keystrokes or hardware switches. The possibilities could be: assign commands to (function) keys, do a reset, switching a Kernal, switch on/of LED's etc. The configuration or firmware update is possible via a USB connection.

World's smallest C64 emulator - Memwa2 | Staringlizard started an Kickstarter to make the world's smallest C64 emulator. This project will be a sequel to the Memwa project. The specifications of the Memwa2 are: More powerful MCU, microSD, USB keyboard, HDMI output and a SID chip or a replacement like the Swinsid.

Sum firmware update | A new firmware for the Sum USB (A1200) and the Sum A600 models is now available. Changes in this version: Apple USB keyboard support, F10: displaying selected keys codes, F12: displaying device settings and a new short-cut for adapter settings.

LostTurboCard64 | Egretz is working on a modern version of the TurboCard64. The original TurboCard64, from the year 1987, is an hardware expansion for the Commodore C64 with an 4 MHz 65816 CPU and 256 KByte RAM. You can follow his progress on his web page (German language).

C64SD v3 Princess FLC | There is a new version of the C64SD v3 Princess under development. The new version FLC can control the Datassette motor. This makes it possible to make .TAP files automatically from tapes with multiple files. And a new menu (v2.0) for all versions.

Stripefixer C64 | Bwack is working on a stripefixer. This electronic circuit will counteract some of those vertical bar interference on the screen that the C64 is known for. In the videos you can see how he is building and testing the stripefixer.

HerMIDI v1.0c | HerMIDI is a MIDI interface for the Commodore 64 made by Hermit. The devices has only a few components and you can built it yourself. Changes in this version: Commodore Plus4 and C-16 support, Update for the documentation, Better initialization and improvement for asynchronous mode.

Bigger hard disk Commodore 80286 PC | Ruud Baltissen has found a way to use bigger hard-disks in the Commodore 80286 PC's. The Commodore 80286 PC (PC30-III, PC35-III, PC40-III or PC45-III) has a limit of 512 MB for the hard-disk. But Ruud added the XTIDE Universal BIOS to the system and now the limit of your hard-disk is 8 GB.

C65 - FPGA | Paul Gardner-Stephen is working on a FPGA version of the Commodore C65. His goal is to make an 8-bit computer for the 21st century. In the last month he has been working on the keyboard interface, speed control, booting from Flash and the MEGA65 prototype.

PET restoration | Stigsworld is doing an restoration of an Commodore CBM 8032 computer. On his videos you can see how to remove the rust, sanding, priming and painting the metal case. He also shows how to install an PET Micro SD and how to remove the monitor.

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